University of Miami AGPCNP Programs (Adult Gerontology)

The University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies offers 3 Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner pathways:

MSN AGPCNP
BSN-DNP AGPCNP
Post-Master’s Certificate AGPCNP

All three are campus-based at Coral Gables, and the school arranges clinical placements rather than leaving students to find preceptors. UM publishes no online option for any AGPCNP pathway. Certificate applicants must be able to complete every clinical experience inside Florida and must hold a Florida RN license; MSN and BSN-DNP applicants may hold a license in Florida or their current state of practice.

Program Tracks Overview

Program	Est. Tuition	Est. Duration	Credit Hours
MSN AGPCNP	$46,647	3 semesters (FT) / 5 semesters (PT)	35
BSN-DNP AGPCNP	$94,000	6 semesters (FT) / 12 semesters (PT)	68
Post-Master’s Certificate AGPCNP	$24,000–$28,500	Varies by gap analysis	16–19

MSN and BSN-DNP figures are UM’s own published block-tuition totals, not calculations. The certificate range multiplies UM’s published $1,500 per-credit rate by its 16–19 credit requirement. Mandatory program fees are itemized separately in the Tuition section.

Clinical placement is where UM separates itself from most AGPCNP programs. The school states that the program identifies preceptors and coordinates clinical experiences across primary care and specialty settings, drawing on a partner network it describes as more than 200 clinical partners including the University of Miami Health System. For a working nurse comparing programs that require students to recruit their own preceptors, that is a different workload, not a different marketing line.

The trade-off is rigidity, geographic and financial. Coursework sits on the Coral Gables campus, certificate clinicals must happen inside Florida, and UM is private, so there is no residency discount: the MSN works out to roughly $1,333 per credit and the BSN-DNP to roughly $1,382 (calculated from UM’s block totals). Enrollment mode is also welded to entry term in the MSN. Full-time entry is Fall only and part-time entry is Spring only, so an applicant who misses one deadline does not simply switch pace, they wait.

UM arranges the clinical placements most AGPCNP students chase on their own, but only for students who can study in Coral Gables, precept in Florida, and pay a private-school rate with no in-state discount.

Quick Facts

Program Types	MSN, BSN-DNP, Post-Master’s Certificate
Format	Campus-based (Coral Gables); a zero-credit pre-immersion course is completed online before matriculation
Clinical Hours	MSN 616; BSN-DNP 1,176 total, of which 616 are AGPCNP patient care; certificate total not published
Clinical Placement	Coordinated by the program, which also identifies preceptors
Clinical Locations	Certificate clinicals must be within Florida; UM publishes no county-level limit for the MSN or BSN-DNP
Population Focus	Young adults through older adults, wellness to illness, primary care
Licensure Required	MSN and BSN-DNP: unencumbered RN license in Florida or state of current practice. Certificate: Florida RN license plus national NP certification
Entry Terms	MSN full-time Fall; MSN part-time Spring; BSN-DNP Fall; certificate Fall or Spring
Tuition Model	Block per-semester tuition for MSN and BSN-DNP; $1,500 per credit for the certificate
Accreditation	CCNE through 2031

MSN AGPCNP

The MSN AGPCNP costs $46,647 in block tuition, requires 35 credits, and runs 3 semesters full-time or 5 semesters part-time. It is built for BSN-prepared RNs. Applicants who already hold a direct-entry master’s degree are explicitly ineligible, which rules out a group that often assumes it qualifies.

A published conflict worth knowing about. The AGNP Primary Care landing page lists the MSN only as “5 semesters (part-time),” while the program’s own admissions page lists 3 semesters full-time and 5 semesters part-time. The admissions page is the more specific source and its entry-term table corroborates both options, so this page uses 3 and 5.

MSN Curriculum

The 35 credits divide into three blocks. Advanced practice foundations cover pharmacology, pathophysiology, and health assessment. A professional core covers advanced practice concepts, professionalism, and research methods. Everything clinical sits in a three-course adult gerontology spine, and that spine carries all 616 clinical hours.

Full-time students start clinical work immediately: NUR 628 appears in the first semester alongside pharmacology, pathophysiology, and assessment. That is a heavy opening term at 14 credits with 168 clinical hours attached. Part-time students get a gentler ramp, taking pharmacology and pathophysiology alone in the first semester and not reaching a clinical course until the third.

Two items sit outside the 35 credits. NUR 606 is a zero-credit Advanced Practice Preparation course completed online before matriculation, and an introductory statistics course is a prerequisite to NUR 630 that cannot count toward graduation credits. UM recommends clearing statistics before admission.

NUR 601 Advanced Pharmacology – 3 credits
NUR 612 Physiology/Pathophysiology for Advanced Practice Nursing – 3 credits
NUR 613 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning – 3 credits (28 lab hours)
NUR 628 Adult Gerontology I – 5 credits (168 clinical hours)
NUR 608 Concepts in Advanced Practice Nursing – 3 credits
NUR 631 Adult Gerontology II – 6 credits (224 clinical hours)
NUR 609 Professionalism in Advanced Practice Nursing – 2 credits
NUR 630 Research Methods and Evidence-Based Practice – 3 credits
NUR 702 Adult Gerontology III – 7 credits (224 clinical hours)
NUR 606 Advanced Practice Preparation – 0 credits, online before matriculation

See the official MSN plan of study for the full term-by-term sequence.

MSN Clinical Requirements

616 clinical hours total, all inside the adult gerontology sequence
Distribution: NUR 628 168 hours, NUR 631 224 hours, NUR 702 224 hours
An additional 28 hours in NUR 613, which UM labels lab hours rather than clinical hours
12 of the 35 credits are clinical credits
Placement responsibility: the program identifies preceptors and coordinates the rotations
Settings span primary care and specialty practices selected to meet program objectives
Population focus runs from young adults through older adults, wellness to illness

UM’s own FAQ states that AGPCNP national certification requires 500 or more hours of direct adult care. At 616 hours the MSN clears that floor by roughly 23 percent, which matters less as a bragging point than as a margin: there is room in the plan of study for a rotation that underdelivers.

The concentration cuts the other way too. With every clinical hour packed into three courses, failing or withdrawing from one of them is expensive. UM states that a student who misses, withdraws from, or does not pass a course waits until the next academic year it is offered and pays for it again at the per-credit rate, on top of block tuition already paid. In a lock-step sequence that turns one bad semester into a lost year.

MSN Admissions

BSN from a regionally accredited institution; NLN or CCNE accreditation preferred
RNs holding a bachelor’s degree in another relevant science field may be considered
Applicants with direct-entry master’s degrees are ineligible
An ASN earned at a non-regionally-accredited institution may not be accepted even if the RN-to-BSN was regionally accredited
Minimum cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0
Current unencumbered RN license in Florida or the state/territory of current practice
Introductory statistics course
Three letters of recommendation, at least one academic
Statement of purpose and current CV
Interviews at faculty discretion, in person or virtual, with travel costs borne by the applicant
Post-admission: online pre-immersion course, immunizations, negative drug test, FBI background check, and BLS for Healthcare Providers certification (Heart Saver is not accepted)
$1,500 non-refundable deposit within two weeks of admission, applied to first-semester tuition
Applications through NursingCAS; $90 for the first graduate program and $60 for each additional
Full-time entry Fall 2027: applications open September 1, 2026, deadline June 1, 2027
Part-time entry Spring 2027: applications opened April 1, 2026, deadline October 1, 2026
Rolling review of completed applications

Three of these deserve attention. First, the entry-term table ties pace to term, so choosing full-time or part-time is really choosing Fall or Spring. Second, UM accepts one application per applicant per SONHS cycle, so an applicant cannot hedge between the MSN and the BSN-DNP in the same semester and must decide before applying. Third, the background-check standard is absolute: UM states that any infraction on the report, regardless of how it was resolved or adjudicated, rescinds the admission offer.

BSN-DNP AGPCNP

The BSN-DNP AGNP Primary Care program costs $94,000 in block tuition, requires 68 credits, and runs 6 semesters (2 years) full-time or 12 semesters (4 years) part-time. Entry requirements match the MSN, so the same BSN-prepared RN can apply to either. The deciding difference is Fall-only entry and roughly double the money for roughly double the credits.

BSN-DNP Curriculum

The 68 credits wrap the MSN’s clinical spine in a full DNP core. The same three adult gerontology courses appear unchanged, alongside biostatistics, health policy, health care economics and ethics, global health, population health, translational science, evidence evaluation, nursing theory, and technology in health care. Two practice immersion courses and two scholarly project seminars carry their own clinical hours.

Sequencing is the real difference between the two full-time plans. The DNP front-loads doctoral coursework: the entire first year is core content plus the first practice immersion, and the first adult gerontology clinical course does not arrive until the fourth semester. An MSN student is in clinic in week one; a full-time DNP student waits a year.

The part-time plan stretches that gap much further. Pharmacology and pathophysiology land in the seventh semester, health assessment in the eighth, and the first adult gerontology clinical course in the tenth. A part-time BSN-DNP student completes more than three years of study before the first AGPCNP patient-care rotation, and the published plan shows the ninth semester carrying no coursework at all. Anyone weighing the part-time DNP should read that sequence closely before committing.

AGPCNP specialty: NUR 628 (5), NUR 631 (6), NUR 702 (7)
Advanced practice core: NUR 601 Pharmacology (3), NUR 612 Pathophysiology (3), NUR 613 Health Assessment (3), NUR 609 Professionalism (2), NUR 606 Advanced Practice Preparation (0)
DNP core: NUR 654 Evolution of Nursing Practice and Theory (3), NUR 655 Health Care Management, Economics, Financing and Ethics (3), NUR 656 Global Health (3), NUR 657 Population-Based Health and Disparities (3), NUR 658 Health Policy (3), NUR 659 Technology in Health Care (3), NUR 660 Translational Science (3), NUR 663 Evaluating the Evidence for Practice (3), NUR 664 Applied Biostatistics (3)
Immersion and project: NUR 676 Practice Immersion I (4), NUR 688 Practice Immersion II (2), NUR 672 DNP Scholarly Project Seminar 1 (3), NUR 673 DNP Scholarly Project Seminar 2 (3)

See the official BSN-DNP plan of study for both full-time and part-time sequences.

BSN-DNP Clinical Requirements

1,176 clinical hours total across 22 clinical credits
616 of those hours are AGPCNP patient care: NUR 628 168, NUR 631 224, NUR 702 224
The remaining 560 hours are doctoral practice and project hours: NUR 676 168, NUR 672 112, NUR 673 112, NUR 688 112, NUR 659 56
An additional 28 hours in NUR 613, which UM labels lab hours rather than clinical hours
Placement responsibility: coordinated by the program, as in the MSN
Full-time year two is the heaviest stretch, with 336 clinical hours in each of the fourth and fifth semesters

The number worth isolating is 616. AGPCNP patient-care volume is identical in the MSN and the BSN-DNP, because both run the same three specialty courses. The extra 560 hours buy quality improvement, patient safety, leadership development, technology implementation, and the scholarly project. An applicant choosing the doctorate expecting more time in front of patients is paying about $47,000 extra for hours that are not patient care.

BSN-DNP Admissions

BSN from a regionally accredited institution; NLN or CCNE accreditation preferred
Applicants with direct-entry master’s degrees are ineligible
Minimum cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0
Current unencumbered RN license in Florida or the state/territory of current practice, obtainable before orientation
Introductory statistics course
Three letters of recommendation, at least one academic
Statement of purpose and current CV
Interviews at faculty discretion, in person or virtual
Post-admission: online pre-immersion course, immunizations, negative drug test, FBI background check with no infractions, BLS for Healthcare Providers certification
$1,500 non-refundable deposit within two weeks of admission
Entry Fall 2027 only: applications open September 1, 2026, deadline June 1, 2027

Fall-only entry is the binding constraint. There is no Spring door into the BSN-DNP, so an applicant who misses the June deadline waits a full year, and the one-application-per-cycle rule means applying to the MSN instead is a decision, not a backup. One small oddity: the statement-of-purpose instruction on UM’s BSN-DNP primary care admissions page still asks applicants to discuss “the DNPFNP program.” It is a copy-paste artifact on an otherwise current page, and the essay requirement is the same.

Post-Master’s Certificate AGPCNP

The Post-Master’s Certificate runs 16 to 19 credits at UM’s published rate of $1,500 per credit, an estimated $24,000 to $28,500 depending on the final credit total. UM states the length varies. Eligibility is the narrowest of the three pathways: applicants must already hold at least an MSN from an NP track and be board-certified as an APRN.

Certificate Curriculum

The certificate is the MSN’s specialty spine with the core removed. It consists only of the three adult gerontology courses. There is no research, policy, professionalism, or DNP coursework, because UM assumes that content came from the applicant’s existing master’s degree.

The credit range comes from a single variable course. NUR 628 is fixed at 5 credits and NUR 702 at 7, while NUR 631 is published as 4 to 7 credits. That single course produces the whole 16-to-19 spread, which is why UM cannot publish a fixed duration.

NUR 628 Adult Gerontology I – 5 credits
NUR 631 Adult Gerontology II – 4 to 7 credits
NUR 702 Adult Gerontology III – 7 credits

The three graduate prerequisites (advanced pathophysiology, advanced pharmacology, and advanced physical/health assessment, 3 credits each) are admission requirements rather than courses inside the certificate. An applicant missing one of them cannot simply add it to the plan of study.

See the official certificate plan of study.

Certificate Clinical Requirements

UM does not publish a clinical-hour total for the certificate
Hours are embedded in NUR 628, NUR 631, and NUR 702, the same three courses that carry 616 hours in the MSN plan of study
All clinical experiences must be completed within the State of Florida, stated plainly on the certificate admissions page
Placement responsibility: the school coordinates placements and states that students do not have to find their own clinical site
Settings named by UM include community health centers, private practices, specialty clinics, VA facilities, home care, assisted living, skilled nursing and long-term care, rehabilitation centers, and urgent care

Because NUR 631 varies from 4 to 7 credits, it is reasonable to expect certificate clinical hours to vary with it rather than landing on the MSN’s 616 in every case. That is an inference from the published credit range, not a UM statement, and the certificate hour total is the single most important figure UM leaves unpublished. Certification bodies require documented direct-care hours, so an applicant should confirm the final number in the individual plan of study before accepting a seat.

The Florida-only clinical rule is the harder constraint. An out-of-state APRN cannot complete this certificate from home, which effectively limits it to nurses already practising in Florida or willing to relocate for the clinical terms.

Certificate Admissions

Bachelor’s and master’s degrees from regionally accredited institutions, with an NP track required inside the master’s
National certification in a nursing specialty; UM describes the program as available to those who hold at least an MSN and are board-certified APRNs
Minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 for both the bachelor’s and the master’s
Current unencumbered RN license in the state of Florida
Graduate-level prerequisites, 3 credits each: advanced pathophysiology, advanced pharmacology, advanced physical/health assessment
Two letters of recommendation, at least one academic
Statement of professional goals and current CV
Interviews at faculty discretion
Post-admission: online pre-immersion course, immunizations, negative drug test, FBI background check with no infractions, and BLS and ACLS certification from the American Heart Association
$1,500 non-refundable deposit, applied to first-semester tuition
Entry Spring 2027: applications opened April 1, 2026, deadline October 1, 2026
Entry Fall 2027: applications open September 1, 2026, deadline June 1, 2027

Two rules disqualify applicants who otherwise look like a fit. The master’s must contain an NP track, so a CNS, nurse educator, or nursing administration master’s does not qualify, and the applicant must already be board-certified, so an MSN-prepared nurse who never sat a certification exam is out. This is a specialty-switching credential for practising NPs, not a route into advanced practice.

The Florida licence requirement also reads differently here than in the degree programs. The MSN and BSN-DNP accept a licence from the applicant’s current state of practice; the certificate page asks for a Florida RN licence outright.

Two smaller discrepancies across UM’s own pages: the certificate admissions page lists BLS and ACLS while the MSN and BSN-DNP pages list BLS only, and it quotes NursingCAS fees of $80 and $50 where the degree pages quote $90 and $60. Both differences point to the certificate page being refreshed on a different cycle.

See the official certificate admissions page for full requirements and deadlines.

Tuition

UM prices the MSN and BSN-DNP as block tuition per semester rather than per credit. Students pay the semester rate regardless of how many courses they take, and UM states that a student who takes fewer courses than scheduled still pays the full semester rate. The post-master’s certificate is the exception, charged at $1,500 per credit.

MSN: $15,549 per semester full-time over 3 semesters, or $9,329 per semester part-time over 5. UM publishes a total program cost of $46,647
BSN-DNP: $15,666 per semester over 6 semesters, or $7,833 per semester over 12. UM publishes a program total of $94,000
Post-master’s certificate: $1,500 per credit across 16 to 19 credits

The published per-semester rates reconcile to the published totals within rounding. Three full-time MSN semesters come to exactly $46,647; five part-time semesters come to $46,645, two dollars under UM’s stated total. Six BSN-DNP semesters come to $93,996 and twelve part-time semesters to the same figure, against a stated total of $94,000. Full-time and part-time cost the same either way, which is unusual and worth noting: stretching the MSN or the DNP over more semesters does not increase the tuition bill.

Estimated Total Tuition

Pathway	Tuition	Program Fees	Estimated Total
MSN AGPCNP	$46,647	$1,770	$48,417
BSN-DNP AGPCNP	$94,000	$600	$94,600
Post-Master’s Certificate	$24,000–$28,500	Not published	$24,000–$28,500

Tuition columns are UM’s published figures. The Estimated Total column adds UM’s published program fees and is calculated here, not published by the university.

Fees Beyond Tuition

MSN nursing fees: $1,170
MSN Advanced Practice Preparation course fee: $600
BSN-DNP comprehensive orientation fee: $600
$1,500 admission deposit, non-refundable but credited against first-semester tuition
NursingCAS application fee, $90 for the first graduate program and $60 for each additional
A laptop, books, and course equipment, which UM names as required student-borne costs
Travel costs for admission interviews, which UM states the applicant covers

The largest hidden exposure is a repeat. UM states on both cost pages that a student who misses, withdraws from, or fails a course waits until the next academic year the course is offered and pays for it again at the per-credit rate. Block tuition does not absorb that charge, and in a lock-step sequence the delay is measured in years rather than terms.

Converting the block totals to a per-credit basis makes the three pathways comparable: about $1,333 per credit for the MSN, about $1,382 for the BSN-DNP, and $1,500 flat for the certificate. The certificate is the most expensive credit UM sells in this family, which is easy to miss when the sticker price is the lowest of the three. Stepping up from the MSN to the BSN-DNP costs about $47,350 more for 33 additional credits, an effective $1,435 per added credit.

See the official cost pages for the MSN and the BSN-DNP, and the university bulletin’s tuition and fees section for charges that apply across UM.

Why Choose This AGPCNP Program?

Best suited for: a nurse who can study on the Coral Gables campus and precept in Florida, and who values having the school arrange clinical placements over paying less or studying online.

The school finds the preceptors

UM states that the program identifies preceptors and coordinates clinical experiences, and that certificate students do not have to find their own clinical site. For an AGPCNP applicant this is the single most consequential difference between programs. Self-placement models can delay graduation by a full term when a site falls through, and they push the search onto a student who is already working. UM’s model removes that risk in exchange for accepting the sites the school assigns.

616 patient-care hours, above the certification floor

UM’s own FAQ puts AGPCNP certification at 500 or more direct adult-care hours. The MSN and the BSN-DNP both deliver 616, about 23 percent above that threshold, through the same three-course sequence. The margin matters for a student who wants exposure beyond the minimum, and it is a fair comparison point against programs that sit closer to 500.

Three entry points, one clinical spine

NUR 628, 631, and 702 are the specialty content in all three pathways. The MSN wraps them in an advanced practice core, the BSN-DNP wraps them in a doctoral core plus immersion and project work, and the certificate delivers them alone to nurses who already have the core. A BSN-prepared RN chooses between the MSN and the BSN-DNP; a certified NP changing population focus has only the certificate; nobody straddles the categories.

What the extra $47,000 for the doctorate actually buys

The BSN-DNP costs roughly double the MSN and takes twice as long, and it does not add a single AGPCNP patient-care hour. The additional 560 clinical hours are practice immersion, quality improvement, leadership, and scholarly project work. That is a real credential with real content, but the decision should rest on wanting doctoral preparation and the DNP title, not on wanting more clinical time.

The Verdict

The strongest case for UM belongs to a South Florida RN who wants an AGPCNP credential fast and does not want to negotiate for preceptors. The MSN delivers 616 clinical hours in three semesters with placements arranged, and at $46,647 it is the shortest and cheapest route through this school. A certified NP already practising in Florida who wants to add adult-gerontology primary care has a clean option in the certificate, provided the master’s included an NP track.

Applicants who should compare elsewhere: anyone who needs to study online or complete clinicals outside Florida, anyone who cannot absorb a private-school rate with no residency discount, and anyone whose timing does not line up with UM’s rigid entry structure, where the MSN ties pace to term and the BSN-DNP admits in Fall only. Part-time BSN-DNP candidates in particular should study the published sequence before applying, because the first AGPCNP clinical course does not arrive until the tenth semester.

Accreditation

UM states that its nursing practice programs, covering the BSN, MSN, post-graduate APRN certificate, and DNP, hold full CCNE accreditation through 2031, the maximum award period. The certificate admissions page separately confirms that all certificate programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.

UM states that completing the AGPCNP program qualifies graduates to sit the AGPCNP certification examination offered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center or the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

State authorization is a smaller question here than at distance programs because the coursework is campus-based and the clinical footprint is Florida. Certificate applicants need a Florida RN licence and must complete every clinical experience inside the state; MSN and BSN-DNP applicants may hold a licence in Florida or their current state of practice. Out-of-state applicants should confirm licensure timing with UM before applying, since the licence must be in hand before orientation. Current details are on the school’s accreditation page.

More AGPCNP Programs in Florida

Florida A&M University - Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University - Boca Raton
Florida Southern College - Lakeland
Palm Beach Atlantic University - West Palm Beach
University of Central Florida - Orlando
University of South Florida - Tampa

Compare top Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner programs in Florida